Thanos
by Lightningtrance256
Summary: In the hospital with so many broken bones you cannot even count them. Now, hanging on to life, he is starting to let go. Guess who? I don't know what the differences in rating are. p.s. kate isn't actually in the story, just the memory of her
1. Chapter 1

**-P.S. I want to thank ****Chandniwrc for giving me the final piece of the story I needed, and for letting me borrow it. Read their stuff, it's really good.-**

"_Oh god. What were you thinking, DiNozzo? Going in without backup!"_

_He could hear the voice in his head. Knowing it was right, Tony groaned in pain. If only he had listened to that voice yesterday. He could have avoided a lot of people a lot of pain, including himself. But, he hadn't listened, and now he was paying the price. Here he was. In the hospital, holding onto dear life, with the hands of death pulling him in like a sinkhole..._

**Sorry it was so short, its more of a prologue, than a first chapter.**


	2. The day before

Tony walked up to the building in despair. He was about to get in major trouble, he could feel it in his gut.

_Oh, great._ He thought _I'm starting to become Gibbs._

Gibbs, oh boy, was he going to be mad. But Mcgee was with Abby, and Ziva had been forced to take the day off. The big boss man was in MTAC with Vance, so Tony had just written a note, and left. So, here he was, back at t he crime scene, with no backup. Knowing someone could sneak up on him at any moment, and he would be dead. Slowly, he took small careful steps up the front porch stairs, and walked in the house. Nothing, no one around. There were no lights, and the sun was going down. Tony took out a flashlight. He found his way to the staircase, being careful not to creak the old wood floorboards. He made his way up one flight of stairs, two, three. He opened the door, and went in.

"_Okay, DiNozzo. Take it slowly, these boards are really old and fragile. The last thing you want is them breaking from underneath you-"_

And then he started falling, that was the last thing he remembered.


	3. The day before gibbs' view

Thank you to all the people who have already subscribed! I'm so happy!

Sometimes, Gibbs hated MTAC meetings, they never got him anywhere in a case. He stormed out of the room, and down the stairs. He stood in the middle of the empty bullpen.

_What has Vance done with my team now? He makes Ziva take the day off, and sends Mcgee down to help Abby. And Where the hell is DiNozzo!_

He saw a note on his desk. When he saw that unreadable handwritting, he knew it was Tony's. He picked up the letter, and read.

"_**Hey boss, you wer in MTAC, Ziva's out for the day, and Mcgee's with Abby, so I had no choice but to go back to that house alone. I know, I could have waited for you, but this can't wait, I have a hunch we missed something big."**_

_**T. DiNozzo**_

DiNozzo! He could really be an idiot. Gibbs picked up his phone and pressed tony's speed dial. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four rings.

_-Hello! Thanks for calling. I wish I could take your call, but I'm busy right now. Leave a message and returning number, please._

Yeah, Busy bleeding to death in the middle of nowhere. He dialed Mcgee's number.

_Hey, boss. what's up?_

_Get upstairs, now!_

_Sure thing, be right-_

The line went dead.

A few minutes later, Gibbs and Mcgee were at the house. Just in time to hear a loud crash, and breaking wood. Gibbs ran into the house, faster then lightning. While Mcgee dialed 911. Once inside the house, Gibbs could see the giant hole. it looked like it went three stories up, and one more floor down to the cement basement.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled at the top of his lungs. "Tony" he said again, sounding a bit more scared. He ran down the stairs and there he saw it. Tony body, lying lifelessly limp on the cement floor. Gibbs tried fighting back tears for his senior agent. No, he had to push through, for Tony. Gibbs examined Tony;s body and found at least ten bones split right in half. The ambulance came and took Tony on a gurney. Gibbs demanded riding with him all the way to the hospital. He told Mcgee to send the news to the rest of the team.

That was the most painful thing he had gone through in years. Seeing Tony hanging on to life, seeing he could slip away at any moment. Gibbs couldn't help it anymore. The tears slipped from his eyes. Those tear he had held up for decades. Now, he had finally broken. And he covered his face in misery.

"Please Tony, please. Stay with me. You can't go, you just can't."

These were the final words Gibbs said before Tony was rushed into the ER.


	4. A visit from the gremlin

He was conscious before he could open his eyes. Oh, god. He could never remember a time where he hurt this much. He had been hurt pretty badly before, but this. It was like every inch of his body had been shot up. Where was he? All he could recollect was stepping down on a piece of wood, and falling hard. The room was silent, then the door opened. He heard the small shuffle of footsteps he knew could only be one person, Palmer. The autopsy gremlin. Tony heard a chair being pulled up to him, and he could hear his Jimmy talking.

"_Listen Tony, You need to come back. Abby's an emotional wreck, Ziva's not too far behind. Mcgee just sits at his desk all day. Gibbs hasn't come down to autopsy in days, and Ducky is... silent. He hasn't said a word since he found out. You know how weird that is for Ducky. We all miss you, a lot. You can be pretty annoying, but at the end of the day, you were the one who kept us all smiling. And right now, we definitely need a smile. I know you can't hear me, but you have to wake up Tony, we need you."_

And with that, the footsteps left the room, and shut the door.

Tony couldn't feel it, but he knew he was crying. Hearing about his team, his family, in this much pain. He knew he had to wake up, and he was going to try harder and harder until he could open his eyes. Suddenly, the pain came back to him like a rhino. He groaned in pain and agony. Well, he had control of his vocal cords, that was a start.

**What doe you guys think? I need some help now. I'm adding in a new character, but I need a name. One boy name, two girl names.**


	5. A roommate

**Thank you, *insert name here*, for the idea for a name. I have a lot of homework to do, not to mention, i got detention. Hey! I'm Dr. Suess! I wont be able to write for a while, so I have a challenge for you. Why did I name the Title of the story "Thanos"?**

_**Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.**_

Tony listened to the monitor. It was slow, but he was alive. He opened his eyes, and stared at the hospital ceiling. Wait- hospital? Why was he in the hospital? Tony tried to get up, and had to fight back screaming in pain. His body was on fire, and he sat back down and tried to relax. Suddenly, he heard a soft clicking, like a keyboard. "Mcgee?" He asked, totally forgetting where he was. The curtain from the next bed over opened fiercely, revealing a little girl, around 9 or 10 years old. She was sitting in her bed, typing away on her laptop.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, "You aren't supposed to be awake!"

"Oh, really?" Tony asked, questioningly, "Then when am I supposed to wake up?"

"ummm," Oh, boy. This was going to be awkward, "A few months, years, maybe never."

"NEVER? Are you kidding me?" Tony paused, "How did you know that?"

"I was listening to the nurse. She was talking to some girl, oh gosh. She went absolutely crazy when the nurse said you might never come out. She just collapsed on the ground and cried."

_Abby_.

She continued, "It was horrible, but the doctor took away my ipod, so I couldn't block out the sound. By the way, where does she shop? she looked like she walked straight out of the army. Unless, she actually is in the army. But I know she's not, way too clean."

_Okay, maybe it wasn't Abby, but then who could it be? Ziva? no way. Ziva doesn't cry, especially over me._

Tony looked over to the girl, her deep, green eyes- covered mostly by her dark brown hair- stared at him. Like she was expecting something.

"Well?" she finally said "Are you gonna tell on me, or what?"

"Why would I tell on you?"

"Because, I'm not actually allowed to have my laptop, I'm just supposed to sleep all day, but who can do that?"

Tony laughed "Tell you what, I won't tell on you, if you let me use that."

"Deal. Uh, you do know you can't even get up, let alone walk across the room?"

"True, could you go on the internet there? I need to talk to my friends"

"Oh, sure. You want e-mail, IM, or what?"

"IM, Mcgee's probably on."

"Sure thing, you got a screen name? or, what's his?

"hmmm, actually, try the name hotgoth24190, abs is always on her computer."

"Ooh, was she the girl with the really cool black dog collar? I need to get one of those."

"Yeah" Tony laughed "That's Abby."

"Want to video chat with her instead? It's better and you will actually be able to talk yourself."

"Sure, thanks. Do you mind bringing it over here? I want to see her face."

"No problem."

Tony watched her get out of her bed. Only then did he see her left arm. There were two bullet holes in her upper arm. Her forearm lay in a cast and sling. She put up a table in front of his, and set the laptop down. Then she went up to the corner of the room, and pressed a button on the camera, walked back over to the computer, and pressed a button that said "download video files".

"What was that for?." Tony asked.

"It's so we don't get caught, I'll be in serious trouble if they see I have my laptop."

She typed in Abby's screen name, and pressed search. Sure enough, Abby came up. Clicking the "request video chat button", she looked around to make sure no one was coming.

A few seconds later, Abby's face popped up on the screen. She took one look at Tony, and squealed.

"Tony! You're okay!"

"Yeah, Abby, a little better."

"Oh I thought we had really lost you this time. One second, Mcgee! Get over here! It's Tony!"

There was a loud sound in the background, like Mcgee had just dropped an entire bucket of evidence.

"Hey Mcprobie, How are you guys doing there without me?"

"Oh, we're doing pretty-"

Abby cut him off

"Tim, we're doing horribly, this place is a wreck without Tony."

"Yeah, Tony, everyone's pretty lost without you here."

Tony's new roommate dashed over to her compuer.

"Tim? As is Timothy Mcgee?"

"The one and only."

"That would make her Abby, and you Tony!" she was filled with excitement now.

"yes.." Tony said.

"Oh my gosh!" She screamed, "Kate talks-" she quieted down, getting a little sadder, but going slightly back up to hyper "Well, Kate _talked_ about you guys all the time."

"You knew Kate?" Abby asked.

"Knew her? She was my aunt."

All noise went dead, she smiled.

"I'm Katlyn Todd junior. Nice to meet you.

**Questions? Comments? Compliments? Anyone? What did you think of the twist? And remember the challenge. Again, that's "Thanos"**


	6. Surprises

**Gosh, can't someone point out what I'm doing wrong? I like critique, it helps me become a better writer. So if anyone says I need to do something better. Any ideas you want me to add in? I'm thinking of maybe putting in some Tiva, but it's on the line.**

**Sorry it took so long for me to write this, I've been really busy. We had school testing, COGATS, midterms, long story short. I was studying.**

_Well, then. On with the story!_

He stared in her eyes, and he saw it. He could see Kate, staring at him with those bright emerald eyes. Kate,with her milk chocolate brown hair falling perfectly on her framed face. No split ends, just a gentle outward curve. With just a bit of side bangs drawing attention back to her eyes. He stared into them, they gave him the impression of both love, and a killer who could strike at any moment.

"Hey, Kate. Long time no see."

"Yeah, like all my life. I can't believe I didn't recognize you. I've seen pictures and heard stories about you, but you look so different then Katie's drawings."

Kate walked back over to her bed, and grabbed a bag from underneath. She brought it over to Tony's bed and took out a crumpled sheet of paper. She smoothed it out a bit, revealing a drawing of Tony, sitting at his desk, playing a video game. _Typical DiNozzo_ it read at the bottom. Kate's handwriting, it had been so long since Tony had seen it, and he couldn't help but cry.

"Tony?" Abby asked, being her usual worrisome self, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Abs, it's just a picture." Tony lied.

Abby wasn't taking her gaze off of Kate, Mcgee swallowed hard. Obviously, they had heard Kate say her name, maybe even mentioning her aunt. _Aunt_, the voice played over in Tony's head. Kate had been an aunt, and none of the had known, maybe she had wanted it that way.

"Well, Abby, I need to get off now. They're coming back to check on me in a bit."

"Visiting hours are from 4-9" Kate said, hoping to be of some help to him.

The man she had heard so much about. She might as well be meeting Justin Beiber, and the only thing keeping her from asking for his autograph was the fact that he couldn't move his arms.

"I'll be there!" Abby almost screamed, she was so happy, Mcgee was trying to keep her from exploding.

"I'll be there too, Tony." Mcgee said, a smile creeping widely across his face.

"Good, Probie. I'll someone to refresh my mind on why the heck I'm here."

"Kay, Tony. Sure thing." Mcgee never thought he would miss that nickname so much. Today was just full of surprises.

_You have gone offline. You are no longer signed into chat._

Kate shut the laptop and put it in her bag, struggling to hold it in one hand. Kate pulled up a chair and sat next to Tony, staring into his eyes. Silent and awkward, she brushed his hair out of his face, to get a better look.

"So," Kate finally said, "What was she like?"

Tony looked puzzled "Who?"

"Kate." Tony saw sorrow on her face, but only slightly. She looked more like an innocent puppy in a rainstorm.

"You mean you never met her?"

Kate stifled a laugh, "I couldn't even go to the funeral. I was locked up in this jail cell."

Tony laughed, it hurt him, though. Kate looked straight into his eyes, and saw a bit of remembrance in them.

"You've been here before." She was not asking a question.

"How'd you know that?"

Kate shrugged, "A few reasons, actually. You don't look out the window at every unusual noise you hear, not to mention you aren't absolutely and completely freaking out," She smiled at the thought, "like most people would."

"Yeah, I've been here a lot. What about you?"

"A few times, or, a lot of times."

"Really? What for?"

"Well, I'd tell you..."

"But then I'd have to kill you." Tony finished her sentence, smiling. _Just like Kate._ He thought.

"I'll tell you what." Kate started, getting back in her bed. "I'll tell you my story, if you tell me yours, and tell me about my aunt."

"That doesn't seem very fair to me."

"Do you want to know or not? Because I'm allowed to leave tomorrow." She had caught him.

"Fine, but I'll wait until after you talk to tell you about Kate."

"Fine, but first, tell me why you're in the hospital."

"Well, its a long story."

"I have all day, you have all the time in the world, start talking." She commanded him.

"Okay, well it started as a normal day. Well, as normal as a day gets at NCIS. There had been a bombing at an old shack in the middle of nowhere. We went to the house, but all the remains had been charred and destroyed. When we got back, Vance forced one of the agents, Ziva, to take the day off. Mcgee went to bring evidence to Abby, and Gibbs had a meeting to head of to. So I was left alone. Well, I got an idea that maybe the explosion hadn't reached the third floor, and we had just handed the case over the FBI, so I had to hurry if I wanted to find something...

**If you want to read what happened next, read the prologue.**

But I have the feeling there was something else, I just can't remember what happened after the ground fell." Silence hit both of them.

"Whoa, I thought I had it bad, but that's way worse." Silence filled the room again, neither knowing what to say. Tony finally broke the ice.

"So, what's your story?"

"Huh?"

"We had a deal, you know what happened to me. Now it's your turn."

"Oh right, well, I guess I should start..."

But she never got a chance to finish. At that moment, an alarm sounded, loud and shrill. The glass door was busted through, like a blade. In a second, the bullet left the gun, sliced through the air, and went straight into Tony's chest.

_"Oh god. What were you thinking, DiNozzo? Going in without backup!"_

_He could hear the voice in his head, knowing it was right, Tony groaned. If only he had listened to it yesterday. He could have avoided a lot of people a lot of pain, including himself. But, he hadn't listened, and now here he was. In the hospital, holding onto dear life, with the hands of death pulling him in like a sinkhole..._

**HA! You thought it was going to be sweet and sappy, didn't you! DIDN'T YOU! But you were wrong! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!**


	7. Flashback one

_Flashing lights, bright in her eyes. She winced and used her hand to see. Crying, she ran over to him, and hugged him. Hugged him like she never had before, because she knew she would never get to do it again._

"_I love you sweetie," He said, tears coming down his eyes, "be brave for me, okay? Can you promise me that?"_

"_I promise, I love you daddy."_

_He was dragged away, staring solemnly at his daughter._

_Kate wasn't so easy, she kicked and screamed, trying to break free. "No!" she yelled, "He didn't do anything, you can't take him! What did I do to make me loose my father?" And then it went black._

Jimmy sat next to the little girl, lying in autopsy. One thing, one action, had changed everything. Tony was probably dead, Mcgee was a wreck, Palmer didn't dare go to give Abby the evidence. Ziva had gone home for the day. Ducky wasn't talking, and Gibbs, oh gosh, Gibbs was in the director's office. He could hear the screams from the basement.

_Vance deserves it._ _This is his fault, I hope he's happy._

He looked back down on the metal table, at the little girl.

_She shouldn't have died, she was only in the room with Tony, she doesn't deserve this. She had a life, now she's waiting for an autopsy. It doesn't seem fair._

Jimmy sat there for an hour, just thinking about this. He decided to wait until tomorrow to do the autopsy. Lifting up the crate, he opened up the freezer, placed her, gently, and closed it back up. But something stopped him. A hand was holding the door open slightly, then the door slammed open.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Palmer pulled the crate out, and set it on the floor. Kate got up slowly, and struggled to stand. Palmer caught her just before she could hit the ground.

"Whe- Where am I?" Her voice was fuzzy, probably from being in the hospital's freezer.

"Uhh, well," Palmer started to say "You're in autopsy, and you're alive."

"Gee, thanks for, noticing?" Kate got up out of Palmer's arms. Giving him the opportunity to race over to the phone.

_-What, Dr. Mallard?_

Vance's voice rang hard, he was mad.

_-Sir, it's Palmer. Gibbs, I need you downstairs right now._

_-Can't it wait?_

_-Not really, sir. I think we may have a witness._

He hung up the phone. Kate was staring at him like he had just called her a cat.

"What do you mean? Witness of what-" The scene flashed back to her, "Oh my gosh. Tony! Is he okay?"

Gibbs walked in "Who's the witness?"

"ME! Hello! Over here. Now, is Tony okay or..." She caught Gibbs' eyes, "Oh, no. This is all my fault."

"No it isn't, there's no way this could be your fault."

"Yes it is, Jethro! I had a gun under the pillow, I could have gotten to him first!"

Gibbs withdrew. _Jethro._ She knew his name, but how? There was something familiar about her. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

Kate started to fall again, Palmer rushed over and caught her. He picked her up, supporting her head like she was a newborn baby. Struggling, she managed to make out a few words.

"He-he was after me, Tony just got too good of a look at him. He was going to kill me, like he tried to before." She lifted up her arm, and showed Gibbs the multiple bullet holes in her arm, making herself feel dizzy. "He was trying to hit me in the chest, but his aim is off. He missed, but he got Tony instead and-." She was struggling now just to keep herself conscientious, "and...it's my...fault." She lost, falling back into Palmer's arms, asleep.

"Is she okay? We need her for this investigation. She's seen his face."

"Gibbs, sir, don't worry she's still breathing. I think being in the freezer knocked her out."

"Well, then why did you lock a living witness in the freezer?"

"I didn't, the hospital did. I was given her body and told she was dead, but she's okay. We just need to get her somewhere warm."

Gibbs stormed out the door "Bring her upstairs, she can sit at Tony's desk."

"Where are you going?"

"That's need to know, Jim."

"I think Mcgee and Ziva need to know."

"Tell them I went back to the crime scene."

"You mean the hospital, or the shack?"

He never got an answer, Gibbs was already out the door.

Jimmy shrugged, and walked to the elevator, kicking the up button with his foot.


	8. Flashback two

**~FLASHBACK~**

Dark, and black skies. She couldn't see at all, but she knew where she was. If she was correct, it was not a place she wanted to be. Sadly enough, she was right, and a glance at what she was wearing said it all. _My old school uniform._ She walked down the creaky steps, and towards the door. _No!_ She screamed to herself. _Don't open the door! You can't go in there!_ But she couldn't stop herself, her legs had their own mind. Leaning next to the door, and cupping her ear to hear better, she listened to her father talking. He had said he would be in a meeting, but there was no way he would be talking to someone at work like _this_. He seemed agitated, almost scared, it wasn't like her father.

"I told her, I knew this job was dangerous, but she didn't listen."

"She never listened to you, Bill. She would always stand up, and get beaten down."

She automatically knew who he they were talking about_._ Worried, she leaned in closer to the door. _No! Go away, leave right now, you don't want to hear this! _It was no use, she heard her father say,

"Now look what's happened to her! She's sitting in her own autopsy!"

"I know, I saw her earlier. Look, the funeral is in a few weeks, tell your family the news. Do you want me to move it until after the operation? It would be horrible for her to go in after going to a funeral."

"No, she's not going to the funeral."

"Are you sure? They were pretty close, Bill, I really think she should be able to go."

"All it was, was a few letters. No, I don't want her to know. It would destroy her, I can't stand to think of it. I got to go put her to bed, good night, Sam."

"Good night, Bill."

_Dead? No, no she can't be dead. She can't be dead!_

She huddled up against the wall, and cried. When she saw the door open, she hid in the corner, and watched her father walk up the stairs. He found her before he was all the way up. Seeing the tears in her eyes, he knew she had heard him on the phone. Curling her up in his arms, he brought her upstairs, past her bedroom, and up to the attic. This was her favorite room in the house, the room she had grown up in, now it was more of a storage/play room. Humming a lullaby softly under his breath, he placed her gently on the old red couch, and covered her in an old hand-made quilt. He sat beside her, until she closed her eyes, crying herself to sleep.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, the clock blinked on and off 12:03, 12:04, 12:05. Then it stopped, she got up to check if it had broken. No, it was still plugged into the wall.

_Maybe the power went out? No, it couldn't have, it's the middle of summer, and dry as the desert._

She heard slow walking, up the creaky stairs. Like someone was trying not to make a sound, "Dad? is that you?"

"Yes, sweety. You have to hide, now!"

"Wait, but why? Dad?"

"Just hide, do it now!"

She knew what to do, she opened the nearest vent, and crawled inside, closing it behind her. Hiding, in silence, she heard the footsteps get closer, and closer, until she saw him.

_No! _she thought,_ It couldn't be him! No!_

But sadly it was true. She heard a loud gunshot, and saw her father fall to the ground. Trying not to cry, she huddled back the farthest she could, but it was no use. She had been found. The vent was ripped open, and a pair of hands reached inside. Kate screamed as she was pulled out, and thrown to the floor.


	9. Awakening

**I would like to start by saying I have no intentions of Tony dying. He is, however, in extreme pain, and could. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me. Oh well, sorry it took so long. My laptop crashed, had to re-write.**

Kate woke up with a startled flash, gasping as if it would be her last breath. She found herself lying down on the floor, with a blanket covering her, and a fuzzy pillow beneath her head. Almost jumping up, she was met with an almost startled cry. Kate wasn't sure whether it was happy or sad.

"Jimmy! quick, she's awake!"

Okay, she was loud, Kate thought to herself.

"Ugh, where am I?" She asked out loud.  
"Shhh. Come here, be careful. You don't want to sit up too fast."

The voice was calm, and gentle. Kate felt a warm embrace enveloped around her just before she went weak again. Regaining her sense of what was around her, Kate saw dark black hair in pigtails and a dog collar around the woman's neck. She clutched to who she knew had to be Abby, and hung on for dear life.

"It's okay, everything will be fine."

Abby whispered softly into Kate's ear, keeping the little girl closet to herself. Kate seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness for a few minutes. Jimmy had come over by now with a mug of hot coco, which Kate gulped downed slowly. She found a heater by the wall and curled up against it, trying to recollect in her mind what had happened. When she gave up on that, KAte looked up at Abby.

"Where am I?"

She asked, her voice weak and shaky.

"This is the squadroom," Abby answered, "You're at Tony's desk, sweetie."  
"Where's my dad?"

Kate sounded as if she didn't want to know the truth to her question, but before Abby could answer she asked again.

"Where's Katie?"

Kate looked on the verge of crying, she knew the answer to both questions. Gone. She couldn't take it anymore; Kate started to cry. Abby picked up the little girl and brought her over to Ziva's desk, and sat Kate down in the chair. Then, Abby just held Kate and let her cry. 


	10. Ziva

Dang it, Ziva, you need to get to work!

Ziva was about to headslap herself. Well, anything was better then crying. How could she not, though? Tony, HER Tony, her partner, was dying, and there was nothing Ziva could do about it.

Snap out of it! she told herself. This should not matter to you, you've had much worse. You dealt with Thali's death just fine, you shot you're own brother! You killed Ari, why does this mean so much to you? She knew the answer to that, of course. Tony was her partner, annoying and obnoxious, but still. Tony was like family to her, a real family. Not the demented family she had back in Isreal, who tried to kill each other. Tony was like a kind older brother, he was always there to make her happy when she was at her worst. No matter what, Tony was always by her side, and willing to help. Ziva wished she could do something to help him. Especially now, when he needed it the most.

I can help find whoever did this, then maybe Tony will forgive me. This is all my fault; I cannot believe I let him do something so stupid like that! Maybe, If I had just stayed a little bit longer I could have convinced to let me go with him. Then maybe I could have stopped him from falling. I could have saved him.

The elevator door opened, and Ziva heard a child's happy laughter, like a beautiful butterfly soaring through the wind. She turned toward the bullpen and saw Abby sitting on her desk, talking to whoever had been laughing. Apparently, this person was sitting at her desk, but they were too short. Ziva couldn't see who they were, their head didn't reach over the chair. Abby caught Ziva out of the corner of her eye and quieted Kate down immediately. She wrapped the tired little girl up in Tony's coat, and let her lie down next to desk. Exactly where Kate had slept when she had been on protection detail for Gibbs. Seeing it almost made Abby want to cry, but she was out of tears from crying for the past two weeks over Tony. As Ziva slowly walked over, finally reaching her desk, Abby turned around just in time to keep Ziva from awaking Kate.

"You might want to keep it quiet," Abby whispered, "this girl just has just been through one hell of a week. She's pretty tired."

Ziva looked down and saw the little girl resting by her desk. Seeing who it was confused Ziva a little.

"What do you mean? I thought that she was the dead body from the hospital. You know, the one who was killed by that guy who shot-"

Ziva started to choke up, but swallowed it. She hoped Abby hadn't noticed, but Abby noticed everything.

"We don't know why she was proclaimed dead,"

Abby said quickly, covering up what she knew was hard o Ziva. Tony and Ziva had been really close friends, closer then she herself had been.

"But she must has been in the autopsy freezer at the hospital for almost a week, I'm amazed any normal person could do that. I'm even more amazed she did it. She's so young, and in the state she's in. Her medical records show she's had multiple surgeries when she was younger. Not to mention there are three visibly recent bullet holes in her right arm, five visibly recent in the right arm, and two directly at her stomach. I don't know if there are more that have just healed into scars, because she had an impressive number of those, too. Her legs are all covered in bruises, too. Palmer said he found healed up fractures in her jaw. He thinks she may have broken her jaw a few times."

"Oh, wow,"

Ziva looked down back down at the resting little girl. She looked so happy, but under that shell, she was broken and torn, Ziva could tell. She reminded Ziva a little of herself. Thinking about a little child resembling her, Ziva started to think about the little boy who was almost exactly like Tony. Ziva almost smiled, until she remembered the Tony part of that story.

If she can deal with all that, Ziva, you should be able to cope with this.

"How old is she?"

Ziva must have asked that a little too loud, because Kate started to get up. Pain flooding her body, Kate clutched her chest and propped herself up, sitting against the desk.

"I'm almost nine years old," Kate told Ziva. "My birthday is gonna be this summer. It's either June or August fourth or fifth. I don't really remember the exact date when, but it doesn't really matter to me, anyway.

"I can't believe this. You don't know when your birthday is?"

Abby almost screamed; She couldn't imagine not being able to celebrate her birthday, or her friends.

"No, I don't, not exactly. I've never really had the chance too celebrate. After a while, I just forgot about it."

Abby looked like she was about to go spastic, Ziva jumped in quickly.

"Abby, I do not celebrate my birthday either."

Ziva got quieter, hoping Kate would not hear her.

"So, why exactly is she at my desk?"

Kate heard this anyway. She tried to look up at Ziva,

"This isn't your desk. It's Katie's, or at least it was."

Ziva bent down closer to the little girl to ask her something. Kate stopped her from talking.

"Hey, I remember you. You were the lady the doctor gave Tony's medical records to."

Then something dawned on her. The hospital scene was flashing back, fast. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. Kate hit the back of the desk, then lurched forward, cradling her head in her arms. Kate was feeling dizzy again, and saw the room spinning around her. Slowly getting dimmer, and dimmer, and darker, until everything went black.

**Wow, I just love it when Kate faints, don't I ? BTW, keeping you involved, Ziva does NOT know this is Kate Todd junior. Just making sure everyone knows, going to bed now. I'll try to update soon, but it'll take a minimum of 24 hours. 


	11. Author's note

Hello, thank you for all of the reviews. I'm sorry to say that I won't be writing for a while. Something just came up, and I can't think about much right now,

-Lightningtrance256 


	12. Comadying slowly and painfully

Okay, I am SUPER SORRY about the long delay. I found out my best friend is moving halfway across the country, and I kinda wanted a few days to be depressed. Again SUPER SORRY! oh, I'd also like to point out that EJ does not exist in this story, neither does anyone in about the past season.

This next chapter, we are going back to Tony. He's still in a coma, no doubt, but we are going to take a peak at what he's dreaming about.  
So, onto Tony's mind!

Tony felt his eyes open, but he knew he wasn't really awake. he knew he had seen this before. The cold, wet ground; And the dark, cloudy sky. It was the perfect mood for the day, and how little Anthony was feeling. Tony watched himself remove roses from the grave, placing down a fresh set of orange, blue, and black. As it started to pour, Little Tony heard his father call in for dinner. Tony ignored it, though. All he could do was stare at the gravestone. She was gone, forever, and Tony started to cry. He heard his father call him again, and before he left he hugged the gravestone.

"I love you mom. I always have, and I always will."

Tony ran inside, trying to hide from his father that he had tears in his eyes. DiNozzo men don't cry, his father had told him countless time and time again.~

The scene changed, Tony was wearing his gear, and walking into the familiar building. All the way up to the rooftop, just like before. At the top, he knew it was coming, he knew what she was going to do. He heard a gunshot, and saw her lying on the ground, motionless. Gibbs ran over to her, and found the bullet lodged into her vest. She was okay, for now. Tony knew what was going to happen next, he tried to jump in front of her, but his feet wouldn't move; he had no control over his body. Then, BOOM! The bullet ran straight through her head, and she hit the ground hard. Tony knew she was gone, from the moment he saw her. Kate was gone.

/\/\/\/\/\/\)()()()(NCIS Squadroom)()()()(/\/\/\/\/\/\

It didn't take very long for Kate to wake up again. She still had the most frightened look on her face. Abby picked her up in her arms, and placed her gently back near the heater at Tony's desk. Abby held Kate in a cradling hug until Kate stopped crying. Slowly removing her arms from around Abby's neck, Kate started again with her questions.

"Where's Tony? What happened to him?"

Stupid question, she already knew that. He had died, just like everyone else. Abby shushed her until Kate calmed down, then just held Kate like she was a baby. Rocking her back and forth slowly, until Kate fell asleep in her arms. Just in time for McGee to enter. Like Ziva, McGee had taken the stairs in order to get to the squadroom faster. He wasn't prepared for what he saw.

There, in the very same room where his team had been sitting just a few days ago, was almost empty. He started to choke, but stopped himself before anyone saw. He headed over before he saw Abby, at Tony's desk, clutching a little girl wrapped in a blanket. It was Kate, from Tony's hospital room. But wait, that didn't make sense, not at all. Kate had died in the shooting. He had seen her body being dragged to the ME van. So why was Kate sleeping with her head on Abby's shoulder?

"Abby?" He asked questioningly.  
"Shush, Timmy, I don't want her to wake up."  
"Abby, that's the dead body from the hospital."  
"Yeah, I know that. But she's not dead."  
"Okay then, so why was she brought to autopsy?"  
"I don't know. Someone didn't want us to have a witness, or something?"  
"Well why would-"  
"I said I don't know!"

McGee was taken aback. Abby never yelled at him like that. He walked over to her, and saw that she was crying. He took Kate out from Abby's arms and layed her back down in the "bed" Palmer had made. Then he held Abby in his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. She hung onto him, she couldn't take it anymore.

"He's not coming back this time, is he?" She asked, worried for the answer.

McGee didn't want to lie to Abby, he couldn't do it. Rubbing his thumb gently against the spider web on her neck, he answered.

"I'm not sure, Abs. I think he may finally be out of luck."

Abby wrapped her arms around his waist, and cried. She cried until she ran out of tears, and then cried more. Tony, HER Tony, was gone. He had been like the big brother she never had, but always wanted. He had always been there for her, he had saved her life countless times. Abby couldn't let him go, but McGee was right. Tony had more lives then a cat, and they seemed to be dwindling. McGee leaned up against Tony's desk tracing circles on Abby's shoulder while she hugged him, her arms wrapped around his neck. This is how they sat for hours, no one noticing a sly ninja leave the squadroom with tears in her eyes. 


	13. Im sorry

I am sorry, due to a plaerising issue, I don't really feel comfterable posting my stories on here anymore. Im extremely sorry, You guys have been a reat inspiration to me as a writer.

-Lightningtrance256 (Lauren)


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